The trolley's return in the 1990's made Ithaca festive all year. The
benefits of the trolley
to the local economy, to environ-mental quality and community spirit
easily repaid the investment. Bold and agressive action and creative
funding got it moving. Today we're taking a ride:

Starting
high
up the rail's east end, we board with students and commuters at
Pleasant Grove Road near Hasbrouck Apartments, by parking lot A and
North Campus. This trolley car is a 1905 Gilbert frame completely
rebuilt, like the other six cars, by local talent. Carpentry,
cabinetry, electric systems, upholstery, welding, ironwork, fancy wood
doors and stained glass windows show the best of local craft. The inlay
siding and trim are local oak, maple, cherry and ash. We bought the
frame from a collector for $12,000 and a lifetime pass. Our electric
motors were donated by a local industry.

The trolley bell rings and we pull away at 14mph. Every ten minutes
another trolley follows.

From one end of
the line to the other, this trolley is more than a ride. It's a
theatrical event. Decorated with flowers, banners and flags,
wind-spinners, local artwork and hand-woven lace curtains, these
trolleys are Ithaca's soul on wheels. Solar-powered running lights at
night sparkle along the bombay roof and running boards. Between this
car's front lights is a flowing blue waterfall.

This morning a music student is playing soft oboe melodies on her way
to Lincoln Hall. We're as likely to hear guitar, saxophone or autoharp,
or background tapes provided by one of Ithaca's hundreds of musicians.
Some days there's a brief 'trolley lecture' on topics like
architecture, sports, butterflies, or electromagnetic force, by whoever
is inspired.

We
glide down Triphammer Road, Thurston and Wait Avenues, gener- ating
electricity as we go, then cross the Triphammer bridge at Beebe Lake
and turn right. We stop at Sibley, pass Tjaden, then round left to stop
on a passing switch in front of Johnson Art Museum. We roll slowly
along the crest of libe slope, enjoying the fifteen-mile view. This
part of the trolley route is especially popular with visiting parents.
Every Cornell graduate rides on graduation day, then at reunions.
Convention and conference goers, students, tourists and townies find
better access to campus. We curve around the brow of Uris to the base
of the clock tower. These two symbols of Cornell and Ithaca, the tower
and trolley, pause together before we continue downhill between Willard
Straight and the Campus Store. The trolley helps prospective students
and their families fall in love with the campus, making Cornell more
competitive with other Ivy League schools. More alumni return for
reunions and make more donations. The campus is a more attractive site
for conferences. The avoided costs of additional parking lots (and more
profitable and pleasant use of land) helps Cornell's budget further.
Trolley-riding students spend more of their money in the city that
provides them fire protection. Because of the financial, public
relations and transport benefits, the university has found over $1
million of donations from trolley-loving alumni.

Central Avenue to the traffic light has been converted to Trolley
Park,with brickwork, trees, picnic benches and bandstand, popcorn and
cider. The whole park was paid for by one alumnus. The passing switch
here lets an uphill trolley continue. The uniformed conductors salute
each other with another flourish of bells.

We
continue down Central Avenue (double-tracked), ringing for
right-of-way. Crossing Cascadilla bridge we make a smart right, and
stop along the north side of the Performing Arts Center. Some of our
passengers step out to shop in Collegetown or hike down the Cascadilla
Glen trail. Others board for downtown.

We pass through Eddygate, sand-blasted and bright after years of
neglect. We halt on Eddy Street's passing switch, generating more
electricity as we brake, then move along to State Street.

Ithaca's trolleys on steep green hills and 'central isolation' have
brought us international notice. We're one of the smallest cities in
the USA with a light rail system: a miniature San Francisco, the
trolley tourism capital of the east.

Thousands
of additional visitors come here yearly, leaving their cars outside the
city and riding trolleys, buses and pedal cabs to the many bed
& breakfast inns downtown. We feature great views, friendly
people, quiet streets, famous restaurants and shops, art shows and
gorges. All are best visited slowly. Trolley tourism is more profitable
than car tourism. Trolley tourists are taken where they want to go
without clogging and cracking our streets, without wasting time hunting
parking. They don't spray our children with carcinogens (benzene,
asbestos, etc.) or damage public health with ozone and sulphur
dioxides. Ithaca's popular trolley movie shows them how we organized
and financed our trolleys during a serious recession. They tell their
friends they learned something outstanding in Ithaca, New York.

Everybody new to Ithaca or to the route gets a trolley route menu. Even
natives rediscover their city:

Eddy Street and State Street were part of Ithaca's first trolley
system, from 1887 to 1935. In 1892 engineering professors were hired by
horsecart haulers to declare that electric trolleys could not possibly
climb these hills. But trolleys did, originally powered by
hydroelectricity from Six Mile Creek, Cascadilla and Fall Creeks. One
hundred years later certain experts said we couldn't afford to rebuild
trolleys, but they were wrong too.

During
those early trolley years crowns of light and garlands of flowers often
made our electric horses cheerful, as well as useful. Bright
trolley-top- globes signalled good skating at Beebe Lake, bringing town
and gown together.

The route was then, and is now, a silver spine connecting the best of
Ithaca. Sunset on State Street rails gives the hill another waterfall,
of steel.

During those first 48 years, millions of rides were taken; five people
were killed in trolley accidents. By 1992, jammed with automobile
traffic, these routes were injuring 70 people yearly. Hundreds more
were hurt by cars yearly on other city streets.

Today just one of Ithaca's original trolleys remains, a model for our
new ones, and we will see it up ahead.

We
pause at another passing switch on Eddy Street to let another trolley
by. It carries bicycles out back, probably for students returning from
shopping and touring, or tourists and townies going biking at the
Plantations. Someone offers a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson: "It is
better to travel hopefully than to arrive."

State Street is double-tracked, one track each edge of roadway, for the
90-second traverse (at 14 mph) of the one third mile to the curve at
Seneca Way. There's less car traffic to disturb, because the trolleys
and buses, park-and-rides, bike paths and pedal cabs help clear the
streets. Plans are made to convert the top level of Seneca Street
parking garage (rarely full anyway) to mutual housing, generating much
more revenue than parking/shopping had. While the parking garages had
lost $400,000 yearly, housing conversion produces property tax and
sales tax that are dedicated to trolleys. The ramp's dull walls are
being made friendlier.

When these rails were re-laid, this street's original bricks were
placed along the rails to make a red path. We slow along Seneca Way,
merging left to the Commons-side of Seneca Street. We've got an
exclusive trolley route the next six blocks to Corn (doubling as an
ambulance expressway), by replacing about 30 CBD parking spaces and 16
spaces beyond. The trolleys bring hundreds daily who would not
otherwise have come downtown, and reduce the need for parking spaces as
well.

The
Tioga trolley stop is the gateway to the Commons. Passengers depart
through a ramp at the level of the trolley's top step (for wheelchair
access), which passes through a gazebo. The whole Commons is
redecorated too. The old prison yard paving is now covered with huge
brilliant mosaics of our region's waterfalls, plants, animals, crops,
inventions and clouds. These were designed and installed by local
artists. Success of the Steamboat Landing Farmer's Market taught
Commons merchants that people want to shop where friends, nature, color
and fun are as important as sales. When we began our trolley system we
knew it needed to be done with enthusiasm and adventure, spotlighting
the beauty in our city and the many attractions on the route.

And it had to be done by local people, donating time and talent.
Business planners, engineers, accountants, architects, writers,
land-scapers, gardeners, mechanics, artists, welders, electricians,
citizens senior and junior all built it together, like a Bob Leathers
playground, with professional direction. While City Hall was
cooperative, granting the rail franchise, providing DPW labor, and
moving contracts and permits through boards and commissions, most
leadership and fundraising came from the general public. We avoided
overpriced contractors and consultants as much as possible.

The
Ithaca Trolley Authority has the power of government, to coordinate
track engineering and electrification, signals and communications, fare
collection, maintenance, quality control, insurance, energy management,
volunteers and legal support. And fundraising. The ITA offers
tax-exempt bonds, and taxes nonresidential properties within its
Trolley Assessment District along the route. Administrative costs are
low: small salaries are paid to public servants who love Ithaca and
trolleys. More about fundraising as we go.

Hundreds of local artists have been organized, to make sure the Commons
is always lively. You never know what's happening till you go: some
days there are tightrope walkers, comedians, jugglers, mimes, acrobats,
singers or dancers. Sidewalk artists invite everyone to help chalk grey
patches. All scheduled performers are paid with tokens called Commons
Cents (in denominations of 100, 500 and 1,000 Cents). They and other
artists collect donations from the crowds.

Most
dramatically, the Commons is being connected with a tree-level
iron-framed balcony (roof and floor of thick aerogel glass) on which
the merchants below have outposts. Many more small informal vendors of
locally-made goods, including local farmers and artists, are welcome on
this Commons Gallery. Thousands of extra riders come downtown who
otherwise went to northeast malls. And they find easy access to
reasonably-priced basic goods.

On the other side of Seneca Street buses carry more riders than ever.
Because the trolleys are historic, modern, stylish and frequent,
they've taught Ithaca that transit is not just for people too poor to
have cars. Transit is increasingly convenient, cheaper, ecological and
restful.

More Ithaca trolleys are planned (out Slaterville Road,
the Trumansburg grade, the Cortland grade, down Conrail south to
Spencer) and buses are routed to carry people where rails don't yet go.
Other cities had already discovered bus ridership up when trolleys are
installed.

Car
#56, the last of Ithaca's first trolleys, sits in
a rail circle at the center of the Commons. Old timers help it tell its
story. Here we buy more tickets. A trolley token costs 50 cents, a day
pass costs $2.00, a twelve-ride pass is $5.00, a year pass $200, and a
lifetime pass $5,000. Ithaca HOURS are accepted. Two of our trolley
cars were paid for, in fact, by advance ticket sales.

Commons
merchants will accept trolley tokens for face value, toward any
purchase. The tokens and $5.00 passes circulate as money in the Ithaca
area, further boosting local exchange.

Next
stop is on Seneca at Cayuga Street. Kids board for a safe ride to Cass
Park. Tourists reboard to continue the route after visiting the
Commons. Some students and townfolk are aiming for GreenStar or the bus
station. Those stepping out might be pleased by another surprise party
on Clinton House' big front porch. Free ice cream and samples from
local restaurants and farms are ready for us. We're greeted by a tall
bearded guy dressed like Ezra Cornell, gracious ladies with hoop
skirts, and gentlemen with top hats. Inside, the DeWitt Historical
Society has a popular trolley display. We learn that Ithaca was home to
inventor Frank Sprague, whose trolley electric system was used by
nearly all U.S. trolleys 90 years ago. This is another pedal cab
station for those wanting rides on bike lanes to Ithaca Falls,
Cas-cadilla Park, bed & breakfasts, or home again.

Others along Seneca Street will board to connect with the Weekend
Shuttle (WEESH), which goes north on Conrail track (at Fulton) to the
Farmer's Market at Steamboat Landing (now with real steamboat rides),
to Community Gardens and the Sciencenter, to Stewart Park (and Ithaca
Festival), the Youth Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce (which is also
a park & ride lot for trolley tourists). Southward on Conrail
the Shuttle goes to Nate's Floral Estates, Southwest Park (co-housing,
greenhousing, wood-lot), crosses forest and beaver dams on the way to
Buttermilk Falls State Park, the bed & breakfast there, and
soccer fields. With the cooperation of Morse Chain, this old rail spur
climbing South Hill is being cleared over to South Hill school. Now
there's easy access to and from South Hill, and an unusual view of
Ithaca through wild lands a few blocks from the Commons. We're off
again with bells and windchimes. A harmonica plays "Down in the
Valley." Our ticket takers are trained volunteers, of all ages.

The
next stop is Geneva Street by Seneca Service gas station. Even the
city's gas stations are benefitting by Ithaca's two cent per gallon
Local Option Trolley Tax. Thousands of environmentally concerned locals
and appreciative visitors are glad to pay extra pennies for refills.
Many consider it a civic duty to gas up here, a good investment for a
healthy future for their children. This tax is nothing compared to
Europe's, where gasoline taxes run $1.00-$3.00 per gallon, but Ithaca
collects about $400,000 yearly. Several Florida cities take six cents
per gallon for transit.

Big green signs announce that Seneca Service recycles oil and freon.
They do propane conver-sions. The trolley, in fact, might have saved
this gas station from destruction. Plans had been drawn to destroy
everything on that block (between Geneva and Albany) to build another
parking garage. Up to $8,000,000 was going to be spent for 600 parking
spaces. But trolleys needed far less than that amount for tracks, wires
and cars, and those properties, now bounded on two sides by trolley
lines, are valuable shops, co-housing, offices and green space. Some
step out for Catholic churches, bottle recycling, Bev Martin
elementary, and GIAC.

Plain
Street is another residential stop: more families to the parks. And
there's nothing plain about Seneca Street anymore. The whole route
sports a bright yellow stripe between rails. Artists designed banners
for the trolley posts. RSVP seniors tend flowers every inch. At the
next corner we turn right, and then left onto Buffalo.

Trolleys have raised commercial property value along the route, and the
added tax revenues, about $200,000/year so far, are returned to the
trolleys as tax increment financing. At the same time, Ithaca's Mutual
Housing Association keeps housing costs and rents lower by removing
nearby homes from the speculative market. Tax incentives are offered
for gradual conveyance of rentals to the Urban Land Trust.

We cross Meadow Street, still Ithaca's traffic sewer. It'll take
decades to rebuild enough of the continental rail system to repair the
damage to America that automobiles did.

Ninety
years ago 44 cities in New York State had trolley systems and most were
connected to each other by inter-urban rail. Safe, clean, and necessary
again. The alternative to rails is more random destruction of farmland
and wetland, for highways to suburbs. And the big dead end of oil,
within thirty years. Revival of passenger and freight rail became
understood as essential to national security.

Good news up ahead. GreenStar Food Co-op is still dedicated to local
organic food, bulk more than packaged, and vegetarian meals. GreenStar
members welcome trolley riders with food samples. All money spent there
is reinvested in Ithaca. GreenStar has removed paving for a small
trolley park. Local farmers exhibit their tools and trade, talk crops
and occasionally hire help. They're the real heroes of our local
economy, the genuine social security our kids will have. Today there's
a petting zoo. Here's where most people board WEESH. Others climb out
for the bus station-- the original west end trolley station.

Now
onto Inlet Island, we cross Buffalo and stop between three fine
restaurants. From the Station at left the Black Diamond express train
carried Ithacans to New York City daily, till 1963.

Inlet Island is rebuilt with shops, a gaslamp waterfront promenade, and
floral park. Pole barges give rides in channels draped with forsythia
and clematis. There are excursion boat rides on the lake. Centerpiece
of the park is a model of Cayuga Lake forty feet long. Guides explain
the lake's water flow (nine year cycle), history (once crossed by the
world's longest bridge) and folklore (mysterious booming drums), plus
geology (formed by glaciers a half mile deep), ecology (Cayuga trying
to become a swamp again), and fishing (stocked with millions of trout
yearly). We're standing where airplanes were once built, from where the
1915 world airspeed record (93.5mph) was launched above Cass Park.

Aboard
again, across the new West End bridge, sliding past traffic jams. The
New York State Department of Transportation was once going to build a
West Hill highway 2.3 miles long here, spending up to $35 million. The
DOT has since realized that, because of oil dependence, highways get us
nowhere. Those millions are now devoted to rail travel, which is some
17 times more energy-efficient. Trolleys are leading Ithaca's
transition from car dependence. Cars were combat tanks in our war
against nature, and ravaged our local economy. Over 25% of all Tompkins
County personal income was drained out of town for car-related expenses
like sales, insurance, gasoline, hospitalization, parts and repairs,
yet cars provided only 5% of Tompkins County jobs. Much of that money
is now staying in our region, helping us start many more jobs in
healthier industries, including rail accessories. Much of the rail
system is built right here in New York State: Elmira, Binghamton and
Rochester manufacture and repair rail components.Ithaca's high-quality
low-budget trolley know-how gives us expertise sought by other small
cities. Car travel had been subsidized directly and indirectly by about
$7 million per year of the city's budget. A third of Ithaca's municipal
debt was caused by cars. With the demand for trolleys, the city's
public works budget shifted $500,000/year from roads to rails. The
decrease of car traffic reduced road repair costs, and improved
emergency fire and medical access.

Next stop is the Cass Playground-Pavilion-Park & Ride. From
here, bicyclists take the old railroad grade, an easy ride to
Taughannock Park and Trumansburg. Baseball players and fans hike over
to the fields.

Our
trolley continues on Route 89 to the swimming pool, the Hangar Theatre,
Treman Marina and Ithaca orchard. From the Cass Park & Ride
many are rowed across the lake to the Farmer's Market, avoiding traffic
there.

Although the trolley project was widely popular, the main obstacle
encountered had been yawning cynics, who saw challenges as barriers.
Foremost of these was City Hall's Planning Department. Experts in the
details of conventional development, devoted to wider highways and
taller buildings, the Department's vision rarely reached beyond real
estate deals. If the Department endorsed a project, action was taken
and money spent. But citizen-initiated projects for parks, bikeways,
community gardens, trolleys and historic preservation tended to be
stalled. Funding sat idle. Rather than promote import replacement and
grassroots ecological development, the Department helped tie Ithaca to
corporations loyal only to profit. Despite the millions that taxpayers
spent for planning during the past twenty years, the Department hadn't
studied the basics for responsible plans: the supply sources of
Ithaca's food and fuel, or the flow of money. Nor had it inventoried
the potentials for locally-generated industry using local resources.
Ithaca Journal editorials usually followed the Department's lead. Then
new leadership cleared the track for Ithaca's trolley. The resources of
the Department were enthusiastically organized to support
trolley-inspired development, and to win state and federal rail grants.

We
return along West State Street. Removal of a thin asphalt skin reveals
red bricks all the way to the Commons. The trolley's eastward route is
the mainspring of West State renewal, bringing visitors, shoppers, and
new residents to central housing.

Half the City's share of the 1992 one cent county sales tax increase
feeds the trolleys about $475,000/year. This took the sting from the
tax.

Much funding is private, however. Investors were encouraged by
successes of nearby old-time locomotive routes. The Tioga Central
Railroad made good money by hauling people from nowhere to nowhere, for
the fun of it. The Susquehanna Steam Express carried full passenger
cars between Binghamton and Syracuse. Dozens of other rail excursions
covered the continent. Larger cities like Portland, Detroit, New
Orleans and Seattle already had reinstalled antique trolleys. The first
funding for Ithaca's rail enterprise began with average citizens.
Ithacans bought small-denomination Trolley Bonds, redeemable when
trolley service began, for tokens and special trolley events.

And
we bought more than bonds. We bought a more reliable economy; we
stimulated local production of good jobs. We learned that jobs can be
more than a grim race for dollars, a scramble for products. Good jobs
reward creativity, they promote stable communities and families,
healthy food, clean air and water, friendships, and happy kids
travelling gracefully to old age. We believed the trolleys could help
us get there. We wanted them, and have them.